Academic Programs

Maya
Bhatia, a doctoral student at WHOI, took hundreds of water samples the summer
of 2008 to learn about water chemistry during seven weeks of research in western Greenland. Bhatia, who works with WHOI scientists Sarah
Das and Liz Kujawinski, camped on the edge of a glacier that flows into a
fjord. This remote area is uninhabited by people, but does have plenty of
swarming insects. "It was stunning, absolutely gorgeous," Bhatia
said. "But oh my gosh, the bugs. Terrible."
(Photo courtesy of Maya Bhatia, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

The education program achieved some major milestones in
2008.The MIT-WHOI Joint Program
celebrated its 40th birthday with two events: a reception at the
Ocean Sciences meeting in Orlando, Florida in the spring, and a science symposium
at MIT in the fall.Both events
attracted many WHOI scientists, MIT faculty, JP students and alumni. Joint
Program alums presenting scientific papers at the symposium were Alex Techet
(MIT), Peter Franks (Scripps), Eli Tziperman (Harvard), Dan Sigman (Princeton),
and Carol Arnosti (UNC). Dr. Howard Johnson, former MIT President, who along
with former WHOI Director Paul Fye signed the original MOU creating the Joint
Program in 1968, gave opening remarks. Joint Program alum Jay Cohen,
Undersecretary for Science and Technology of the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, gave the closing remarks.Both
the spring reception and fall symposium were very successful and proved to be a
fine way to celebrate the 40th.

We celebrated another important anniversary in 2008 as the
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (GFD) Program marked its 50th year. To mark this
important occasion, WHOI hosted a reception in Woods Hole Village, which was
attended by six of the seven GFD Program founders and many past and present
fellows and staff. We were honored to see GFD founders selected by their
peers as the 2008 recipients of the American Geophysical Union’s Excellence in
Geophysical Education Award.

During the 2007-2008 academic year, the MIT-WHOI Joint Program awarded 28
masters and doctoral degrees in ocean science and engineering. As of fall 2008,
the Joint Program has awarded 813 degrees. Twenty new students enrolled in the
program in 2008, and the total fall enrollment was 134.

Thirteen Postdoctoral Scholar Fellow awards were made (7
women and 6 men) which includes one postdoc who also received an external
NOAA/UCAR award. In addition to the WHOI- and USGS-funded scholars,
fellows arrived with support from: the European Union, Brazilian National
Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Organization of American
States, Office of Naval Research, Greek Secretary of Research and Technology,
National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, NOAA/UCAR
Climate and Global Change Office, Norwegian Research Council, Bjerknes Centre
for Climate Research, Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, Spanish
Ministry of Education and Sciences, the Fulbright Program, Swiss National
Science Foundation, and the University of Potsdam - Liebnitz.

The topic for the 2008 GFD summer program was “Perspectives
and Challenges in GFD.” Staff members used this opportunity to examine past
developments in the field, and then considered the future by describing
concurrent and new avenues for research. Ten fellows (7 men, 3 women), 8
guest students, 72 staff members and 5 guest lecturers participated in the
program.

Twenty-seven Summer Student Fellows (SSF) representing 25
colleges and universities were chosen from a record high 241 applicants. These
undergraduates and a few recent graduates spent 10-12 weeks in the summer
working on research projects with WHOI scientists, attending lectures and
workshops, and enjoying themselves on Cape Cod (time permitting!) The SSF
program is enthusiastically supported by WHOI scientists, who enjoy working
with the undergraduates and appreciate how much they contribute to WHOI
research programs. Many SSF students later apply for graduate school in the
Joint Program.

Students and postdocs bring energy, enthusiasm and new ideas
to WHOI’s research portfolio and help us move in new directions. It’s a
privilege to oversee these fine education and training programs.
—James Yoder, Vice President for Academic Programs & Dean

What Makes the Great Ocean Currents Flow?

A graduate student explores the Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio
Powerful currents drive the oceans' circulation and Earth's climate. MIT-WHOI Joint Program graduate student Stephanie Waterman has investigated the underlying physics that drive the currents.